City OKs slight rise in tax rates

The Ocala City Council by a vote of 4-0 on Tuesday bumped up slightly the city's tentative 2013-14 tax rates on most properties in order to collect the same amount of revenue it did this year.

By Susan Latham CarrStaff writer

The Ocala City Council by a vote of 4-0 on Tuesday bumped up slightly the city’s tentative 2013-14 tax rates on most properties in order to collect the same amount of revenue it did this year.

The council set the tentative 2013-14 millage rate for the basic city at the rolled-back rate of 6.2502 mills, or $6.25 for every $1,000 of taxable value. That is a 1.6 percent increase over the current rate of 6.1502 mills, or $6.15 per $1,000 of taxable value.

The millage rate is the rate that is used to calculate property taxes. A mill is equal to $1 for every $1,000 of taxable value.

At the rolled-back rate set tentatively by the City Council on Tuesday, a person who owns a home valued at $150,000, minus a $50,000 homestead exemption, would pay $625 in city property taxes, or a $10 increase over the current tax.

The council also set the tentative 2013-14 millage rates for the three downtown development districts at the rolled-back rates.

For District A, that rate is 1.5967, for District B it is 1.7013, and for District C that rate is 1.2810 per $1,000 of taxable value.

District A’s tentative rate for 2013-14 is lower than the current rate of 1.6461 per $1,000 of taxable value. The tentative rates for District B and District C are higher than the current rates of 1.6542 and 1.2332 respectively.

These rates, which were recommended by the city staff, are only tentative rates.

The City Council also set two public hearings to adopt the millage rates and a tentative budget. The first is on Sept. 3. The second and final hearing will be Sept. 17. Both hearings will be at 5:05 p.m. in City Council chambers on the second floor of City Hall, 110 SE Watula Ave., Ocala.

“The rates the council sets today is the ceiling,” Cindy Kelley, the city’s deputy director of budget and finance, told the council. “Council has the option to reduce that rate at the first public hearing in September.”

The rates may not go higher than the tentative rates approved on Tuesday.

The rolled-back rate is a revenue-neutral rate. That means that that rate will give the city roughly the same amount of tax dollars that it currently receives.

The tentative rolled-back rate would generate $21,077,731 in tax dollars to the city, assuming a 95 percent collection rate.

Based on the taxable values certified by the property appraiser on July 1, the city’s current adjusted gross taxable value is $3.549 billion — a decrease of 0.25 percent from the previous year’s gross taxable value of $3.543 billion.